Shaking things up: NIST researchers propose new old way to purify carbon nanotubes

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An old, somewhat passé, trick used to purify protein samples based on their affinity for water has found new fans at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where materials scientists are using it to divvy up solutions of carbon nanotubes, separating the metallic nanotubes from semiconductors. They say it's a fast, easy and cheap way to produce high-purity samples of carbon nanotubes for use in nanoscale electronics and many other applications.*

Insect-inspired camera captures wide field of view with no distortion, according to CU-Boulder study

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To create the innovative camera, which also allows for a practically infinite depth of field, the scientists used stretchable electronics and a pliable sheet of microlenses made from a material similar to that used for contact lenses. The researchers described the camera in an article published today in the journal Nature.

Bug's view inspires new digital camera's unique imaging capabilities

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An interdisciplinary team of researchers has created the first digital cameras with designs that mimic those of ocular systems found in dragonflies, bees, praying mantises and other insects. This class of technology offers exceptionally wide-angle fields of view, with low aberrations, high acuity to motion, and nearly infinite depth of field.

Carnegie Mellon develops zooming technique for entering text into smartwatches

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PITTSBURGH—Technology blogs have been abuzz that smartwatches may soon be on their way from companies such as Apple, Google, Samsung and Microsoft. But as capable as these ultra-small computers may be, how will users enter an address, a name, or a search term into them? One solution is an iterative zooming technique developed and tested by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.

More food and greener farming with specialised transporters for plants

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To grow more food more sustainably we need to make plants better at recruiting nutrients and water from soil to seed, according to 12 leading plant scientists writing in Nature.

Essential to this are proteins called membrane transporters. Transporters also effectively carry high-energy molecules to where they are needed, help plants resist pathogens and make plants more tolerant to adverse conditions. One challenge is to make crops do these things simultaneously.

Bug's eye inspires hemispherical digital camera

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Inspired by the complex fly eye, an interdisciplinary team led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University has developed a hemispherical digital camera with nearly 200 tiny lenses, delivering exceptionally wide-angle field of view and sharp images.

Amphibians living close to farm fields are more resistant to common insecticides

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PITTSBURGH—Amphibian populations living close to agricultural fields have become more resistant to a common insecticide and are actually resistant to multiple common insecticides, according to two recent studies conducted at the University of Pittsburgh.

Odor and environmental concerns of communities living near waste disposal facilities

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A recent study involving the University of Southampton has investigated public perception of how waste disposal sites affect residents living nearby.

Public opinion of waste management facilities can influence where sites are located and how waste management services are delivered. Obtaining the support of communities around municipal solid waste (MSW) facilities is an important part of the successful operation of these services. One common complaint from local communities concerns unpleasant smells emitted from waste disposal facilities, such as from landfill sites.

People may welcome talking tissue boxes and other smart objects

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Just as people have embraced computers and smart phones, they may also give their blessing to talking tissue boxes and other smart objects, according to Penn State researchers.

"Smart objects will become more and more a part of our daily lives," said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory. "We believe the next phase is that objects will start talking and interacting with humans, and our goal is to figure out the best ways for objects to communicate with humans."

Teen girls less successful than boys at quitting meth in UCLA pilot research study

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A UCLA-led study of adolescents receiving treatment for methamphetamine dependence has found that girls are more likely to continue using the drug during treatment than boys, suggesting that new approaches are needed for treating meth abuse among teen girls.

Results from the study, conducted by the UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine and the community-based substance abuse treatment program Behavioral Health Services Inc., are published in the April edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health.